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Please welcome today’s fantastic guest, Michael Sherer, to Murder She Writes! Mike was recently nominated for a Thriller Award for his book Night Blind, and I’m so happy for him. He’s a genuine nice person and has an interesting past as a freelance writer focusing on … food! (One of my favorite things — how is he so skinny?) Anyway, please give him a big welcome and we hope you enjoy this wonderful essay about the power of words … ~Allison

When people ask me how I became a writer, I tell them I majored in English in college because courses in and about my native language were the only ones I felt I could comfortably pass. And the only things you can do with a degree in English are teach or wash dishes. I washed dishes. That got old pretty quickly, so I took a small step up the economic ladder and became a writer instead.

As someone who makes a living from communicating through the written word, you’d think I’d have a ready store of them, a veritable treasure trove of graphemes at my fingertips I can use to describe the world. But I’m often at a loss for words, in more ways than one. As a writer, I’m often stymied by a blank page, unable (or unwilling) to commit words to it, and regularly stumped when trying top come up with a specific word that has suddenly become as elusive as a bonefish in shallow Bahamian water. And in social situations, my mouth becomes inexplicably dissociated from my brain, leaving me awkwardly trying to blend in with the nearest wallpaper.

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Bio:

Allison Brennan

Allison Brennan is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of nearly three dozen romantic thrillers and mysteries, including the Lucy Kincaid series and the Max Revere series. She lives in Northern California with her husband, five children, and assorted pets.